I walk as fast as possible toward Carmel's stall. He lays on his side and his eyes are glossy. Crap. Not him too. I yank his halter and lead off the hook and practically bust open the door. Picking up his head, I clip on his halter and set to work trying to pull him up.
He finally stands and walks to the indoor arena. I hand him to a very tired Westly and crouch beside Dancer and Clara.
Two sets of footsteps enter the barn and then the vet rounds the corner.
"Aunt Baily! Thank god! Where have you been?!" Clara yells.
"Not now. How long has she been down?" Baily asks.
"About 15 or 20 minutes." I answer.
Baily nods before pressing a stethoscope to the mare's belly.
"Marie... I need to talk to you. Alone." She sighs when she's done.
"What? What's going to happen to my horse?" my sister cries with worry.
Baily and I walk to the tack room and she closes the door.
"Marie, it doesn't look good. Because of Dancer's age, we can't give her the surgery she needs. I need you to tell your sister. Dancer only has a few hours left." Her eyes get glossy before she walks out of the room to examine Carmel.
I walk out a few moments later and tell Tyler to take the kids home. It will be a lot easier on all of us if its just Clara and I anyway. I walk to the ring as he walks away from my sister. She looks at me before I motion her over and take her to the tack room.
I silently grab Spartans saddle and Phoenix's saddle before walking out with my sister carrying the bridles and groom bags.
We saddle up in silence and buckle our helmets before riding out of the barn at a slow ambling walk. I open the gate to an empty pasture and ride inside before halting in the middle. Its now or never.
"Clara, stop and dismount. I need to talk to you. Its important." I say calmly.
She does what I say before sitting next to Phoenix, who lays down.
"Clara... Baily said it doesn't look good for Dancer... that she only has a few hours left... I'm... I'm just not sure what else to do... I sent Tyler and the kids home because it didn't feel right to have them here.... when its the two of us who grew up together... Its just that we always stuck together when we were going through a rough spot and no one else was aloud around so... so it just felt right to be that way again. I miss my big sister... and my dad... and now we could be loosing our horses. The last connection to dad we have..." I sob.
"I know. By the way Dancer looked... I could tell this wasn't something she'd pull through. That's okay though. Life has to go on... With or without my partner." she takes in a shaky breath and pulls me into a hug. "It'll be okay. You'll see. Dad always told us that after every storm there was a rainbow, the good after the bad. Maybe this is the same way. Maybe something good will come out of this." she sighs.
I nod and we both mount up before loping back to the barn. When we get there, we in tack the horses and let them loose in the pasture. A strangled neigh erupts followed by a small whinny. And then another. Clara and I round the corner and what we see shocks us both. Right beside Dancer are....
Hey guys. so I've noticed that I have not had comments in a while. If I don't start getting comments soon, I'll be deleting my books. I know it seems stupid but the comments I get from people are my motivation to wright and when I don't get any, my updates become slower because I've lost my motivation. please comment. Thank you for reading.
~Kassie. <3
